Blomkamp's experimental short films are being used as a testing ground for feature films.

Neill Blomkamp has teamed up with the new short film company Oats Studios to release a series of experimental shorts, the first trailer for which looks as crazy and epic as anything you’d expect from the “District 9” and “Elysium” director. The teaser trailer for Oats Studios’ “Volume 1” depicts a world where humanity is enslaved by aliens who “came here to exterminate us,” a narrator explains. The aliens themselves look reptilian, but walk on two feet and shoot weapons. Other footage in the trailer appears to come from separate short films, one of which depicts U.S. army forces fighting in the jungle.

Oats Studios will stream the short films via the online gaming platform Steam. Blomkamp has been dropping hints regarding the new venture for the past year on Twitter, revealing that the experimental short films are being used as a testing ground for feature films.

Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Blomkamp is best known for directing the dystopian sci-fi film “District 9,” which he co-wrote with his wife, Terri Tatchell, and was produced by Peter Jackson. “District 9” received widespread critical acclaim and box office success for its creative use of fictional found footage and political allegory to apartheid. It was based on Blomkamp’s 2005 short film, “Alive in Joburg.” Steam’s online gaming platform was developed by Valve, the video game developer behind “Half-Life” and “Left 4 Dead.”